Carbon credit trade rules approved, breaking lengthy deadlock – Cop29 day one, as it happened

Diplomats have greenlit key rules that govern the trade of “carbon credits” at the end of the first day of Cop29 in Azerbaijan, breaking a yearslong deadlock over contentious carbon markets.

The draft decision on article 6 (which can be read here) goes through with no objection to a round of applause.

This will concern some delegates, and one speaker immediately expresses concern that the way the decision was rushed through at the start of the conference does not reflect the collaborative way these things should be worked on, and urges the conference not to continue this trend. This is a reference to Cop28, where the UAE similarly pushed through a first day decision despite the worries of some countries.

We’re now closing the blog for the day. Cop29 has got off to a bit of a rocky start, with severe delays for the opening plenary, but the hosts will claim that getting the draft decision on article 6 approved is an early win. Environmental campaigners will feel otherwise.

The key events today were:

• Diplomats greenlit key rules that govern the trade of carbon credits, breaking a years-long deadlock over contentious carbon markets

• The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record after an extended streak of exceptionally high monthly global mean temperatures, the World Meteorological Organisation said

• US climate envoy John Podesta said the climate fight will not stop under new president Donald Trump.

• Windfall ‘superprofits’ from oil companies totalled half a trillion dollars in a single year

• A hyperrealistic “dead beached whale” drew attention in Baku

• UN climate chief Simon Stiell told the conference: “What inspires me is human ingenuity and determination. Our ability to get knocked down and to get up again over and over again, until we accomplish our goals.”

Cover photo: A woman poses for a photo with the Baku Olympic Stadium in the background. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP